Wading Birds

Black-crowned Night Heron

A juvenile black-crowned night heron along the banks of Culler Lake, Frederick, MD. August 2020

Cranes - Sandhill Cranes

A pair of Sandhill Cranes and colt (little one) in Orlando Wetlands Park, FL. Notice their beaks are open, their call is loud and trumpeting. April 26, 2021

A Pair of Great Egrets

A pair of stunning Great Egrets fly across a mangrove island in the middle of Rookery Bay, FL. Rookery Bay is aptly named for the number of nesting birds seen throughout the small mangrove islands that dot this body of water.

Rookery Bay

Rookery Bay Reserve protects 110,000 acres of coastal lands and waters at the northern end of the Ten Thousand Islands on the gulf coast of Florida and is one of the few remaining undisturbed mangrove estuaries in North America and where many different birds can nest undisturbed.

Snowy Egret

A Snowy Egret along the rocky shore of Point La Jolla, California, Jan 26, 2019.

Snowy Egret

A Snowy Egret along the rocky shore of Point La Jolla, California, Jan 26, 2019.

Eye to Eye

A California Brown Pelican confronts a Brandt's Cormorant looking to join them on a cliff above La Jolla Cove, San Diego, California, January 2019.

Heron - Great Egret

A great egret and chicks nested on a mangrove island near Naples, Florida.

White Ibis

An adult American White Ibis peers through the branches of a Seagrape tree, Naples, Florida, Apr 12, 2021.

Juvenile White Ibis

Juveniles are splotchy brown and white as they molt into adult plumage. At that point their feathers will be pure white. Naples, Fla

Heron - Black-crowned Night Heron

A Black-crowned Night Heron perches on a limb in a swampy area of the Everglades National Park, Florida.

Coming in for a Landing

A Roseate Spoonbill lands on top of a Mangrove Tree in the Everglades National Park, Fla.

Heron - Little Blue Heron

A Little Blue Heron perched on a tree, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Florida. Little blue herons breed along the Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico, the southern Mississippi basin, and the eastern coastlands of the Gulf of California.

On the Lookout

Although Great Egrets are primarily solitary birds, they will congregate during mating season. As seen here, these birds are paired up and on the lookout for a meal.

Cranes - Sandhill Cranes

A mother Sandhill Crane with her colt walking along a trail in Orlando Wetlands, Park, Florida. Baby sandhill cranes are called colts, because of their long strong legs.

Crane - Sandhill Crane Colt

A young Sandhill Crane is called a colt. They are cute little fuzzballs. They stick right there with Mom and Dad. I took this photo on a trail in the Orlando Wetlands Park, Florida.

Glossy Ibis

A beautiful bird with irridescent wing feathers. Found this fine fellow wading in a marsh at the Orlando Wetlands, Park, FL, Apr 26, 2021

Alligator Swamp Rookery

Native herons, egrets, spoonbills, and wood storks roost in the security of St. Augustine's Alligator Farm, Florida to roost and raise their young. With hundreds of alligators swimming beneath the oak branches, the birds know their young are safe from tree-climbing predators. Apr 27, 2021

Wood Stork

A Wood Stork comes in for a landing on top of a tree, Alligator Farm Zoological Park, St. Augustine, Florida, Apr 27, 2021. This park has one of the best rookeries that I have seen in Florida.

Roseate Spoonbills

A pair of Roseatta Spoonbills on their nest, St. Augustine Alligator Park, Florida, May 1, 2021. Interesting fact from All About Birds: "As humans, we are all too familiar with hair loss as we get older. Roseate Spoonbills, it turns out, are familiar with balding too, but instead of losing hair they lose feathers from the top of their head as they get older."

Pink Flamingo

This one is a little more orange than pink. A Flamingo's color is based on their diet. She has been eating more crustaceans with carotenoid pigments.

Pink Flamingo

A pink flamingo resting with his head tucked under his wing. Did you know they eat with their heads upside down, sleep with their heads on their backs, and often rest by standing for long periods on one leg?

Heron - Great Blue Heron

A Great Blue Heron walks along the shallow shore of Coulson Pond at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Feb 10, 2022. It was a calm warm morning for February which made for a perfect reflection and delicate ripple as the bird walked.